About Fret & Fuzz

Fret & Fuzz compares guitar pedals and amps on their published specifications rather than on adjectives. It is written by Scooter M., an enthusiast who reads the manuals and does the arithmetic. We have not played this gear, we say so on every page, and that is the point rather than the caveat.

01What this site is for

It is for someone who already plays, already owns an amp and at least one pedal, and is deciding what to buy next. That reader has usually already read four roundups that said everything was great, and what they actually want is the specific difference between two options and a reason to prefer one.

So every page here tries to answer one buying question with something checkable: a published current draw, a clipping topology, a decibel calculation, a spec table with a linked source. Where a question cannot be answered that way, the page says so rather than filling the space with atmosphere.

02Who writes it

Scooter M. I am an enthusiast who is genuinely into this — I read the manuals, compile the published specs, and do the math. No lab coat, no test bench, and no credential I would be uncomfortable being asked about.

That framing is deliberate and it is worth being direct about why. The ranking sites in this category lead with credentialed reviewers and test labs. I do not have either, and pretending otherwise would be both false and trivially falsifiable. What I can do honestly is compile documentation carefully, show the arithmetic, and cite everything — which turns out to be an uncontested gap in this field.

03The one claim we refuse to make

That we have tested the gear. Every competitor in this category claims hands-on testing, which is why the claim has stopped meaning anything. We publish the opposite claim plainly, and then publish the work that stands in its place.

04What we publish, and how it is organized

• Roundups with a verdict-first comparison table, categorized picks rather than a flat top-ten, and at least one pick we tell you to skip.
• Head-to-heads that name the actual circuit difference and state who each product is wrong for, not only who it suits.
• Arithmetic guides — power budgets, decibel maths, attenuation — where the calculation is the content and you can re-run it.
• Decision guides that route between categories: which effect you want, whether the gain should come from the pedal or the amp, and whether to spend on a pedal at all.

The sections are organized by what you are shopping for: overdrive and boost, distortion and fuzz, delay, reverb and modulation, utility pedals, pedalboards and power, and amps. The guides sit above all of them for the decisions that come first.

05How it is funded

Affiliate links. Fret & Fuzz participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and when you buy through a link here we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. There are no sponsored posts, no paid placements, and no products supplied by manufacturers.

Commission does not decide the picks, and the site is structured so you can check that claim rather than take it: every shortlist names something not to buy, several pages recommend spending less, and one recommends checking whether your amp already does the job before buying anything. The full disclosure is here.

06Corrections and contact

If a figure here is wrong, tell us. The likeliest errors are a manufacturer revising a spec, a product being discontinued, or a source page moving — none of which announce themselves. Corrections get priority over everything else on the queue.

Reach us at info@fretandfuzz.com, or through the contact page. We read everything, and we answer anything that points at a factual error.

07Who publishes it

Fret & Fuzz is published by Slate Mill Group. It is a publication rather than a shop: there is no premises, no phone line and no service area, and you will not find invented ones anywhere on the site.